If you’re like the Canadian broadcasters that were appalled by the U.S. women’s soccer team’s thrashing of Thailand in its opening game of the World Cup, chances are you’ve never played competitive athletics at a high level.
By now you know the U.S. women’s soccer team dominated Thailand 13-0 and took some serious slack for the margin of victory.
A group of Canadian broadcasters in Clare Rustad, Kaylyn Kyle and Diana Matheson (all who happened to be former Canadian soccer players) lambasted the USWNT and hurled insults at the club for its display on the field. The three broadcasters discussed the United States’ performance using terms like, ‘disgraceful,’ ‘disrespectful,’ and ‘embarrassing.’ One commentator went as far as to say, “I’d just like to hug them all…” referring to the players from Thailand.
No, just no.
This is how you might react if an innocent child was bullied unfairly in the school cafeteria, not grown adults competing in athletics at the highest level on a global stage.
This is the peak of competition, this is the World Cup, there’s no time for hugging players because you feel sorry for them. Is this really where we are in 2019? At the pinnacle of the sport of women’s soccer, we must question if the United States were wrong in scoring as many goals as possible in a tournament that rewards goal differential? It’s not the United States' job to be concerned with how players might feel if they score too many goals. It’s their job to win the tournament, and if one of the tiebreakers is goal differential, then score 100 goals if you can.
Any athlete who has competed on any type of big stage knows that when you cross the chalk lines into the field of competition, all bets are off in terms of feelings or sympathy. It’s about one thing – winning – especially on the international stage like the World Cup.
Sure, you can say the U.S. didn’t need to continue rubbing it in with the post goal antics such as Alex Morgan’s counting of her goals on her fingers, but if Thailand didn’t like it, they should have stopped her from scoring.
Look, I’ll be the first to admit I know nothing about soccer, but I do know a little bit about competing, and as far as I’m concerned, that means winning.
As an athlete, I’ve been there – I’ve had my teeth kicked in with thousands watching, and it sucks.
But you know what would be worse than that feeling? The thought of a team taking it easy or refusing to try their hardest in hopes of not upsetting the opposition.
Athletes not giving one hundred percent to be successful in the field of competition jeopardizes the integrity of the sport.
And for those saying this was a ‘bad look’ for women’s soccer, you’re wrong. A bad look would be a team passing the ball around wasting time and avoiding scoring because they don’t want to hurt the opponents’ feelings.
Blowouts happen, it’s a part of athletics. If the United States were on the opposite end and they were the ones getting stomped, I’d still the say the same thing – get up, dust the blows off, and bounce back in the next game. Overcoming adversity is what sports are all about, and unfortunately, in this day and age, many have forgotten that. Many want to cry in outrage when feelings are hurt.
The U.S. women’s soccer team did nothing wrong. Their performance was not embarrassing or disgraceful. They achieved what they set out to do – win.
The only part of this development that was embarrassing or disgraceful was the outrage from the Canadian broadcasters following the match.
The United States’ next game is against Chile, I hope they win 20-0.